Accurate application of various viscous materials such as adhesives and the like is typically achieved by the use of dispensing guns, most notably, caulking guns. A conventional caulking gun supports adhesive material in a tube or other container and is designed, by operation of the gun, to dispense or expel the adhesive through a nozzle at one end of the container. Many caulking guns of this type are manually operated in that repetitive actuation of a trigger moves a plunger-like piston into dispensing contact with the adhesive containing container. Continuous movement of the piston by hand operation provides for a continuous dispensing of the adhesive. Other guns of this type may be power driven, for example, by pneumatic operation. In these situations, air pressure is used to compress or collapse an adhesive containing tube to dispense the adhesive through the nozzle.
One specific use of such dispensing guns, by way of example, is to apply adhesives to floor joists where subflooring may be applied over the adhesively coated joists so as to fasten the subfloor to the joists. As may be appreciated, the gun must be capable of accurately dispensing the adhesive on the joist so that the proper amount of adhesive is applied with little waste. Many of the conventional dispensing guns, therefore, require the installer to operate the gun in close proximity to the floor joist. This would require the installer to have to kneel or bend to be close to the floor to accurately place the adhesive on the joists. Still further, the size of the guns requires frequent refilling which becomes time consuming and costly for installation.